Bringing Physics into the Fold: from origami fashion to atomic origami for micro-scale robots

Prof. Itai Cohen, Physics Department, Cornell University

For centuries, origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, has been a powerful technique for transforming two dimensional sheets into beautiful three-dimensional sculptures. Recently, origami has made its foray into a new realm, that of physics and engineering, where it has been revolutionizing our concept of materials design. In this talk I will describe the new design principles we are uncovering for determining the shape, mechanics, and transformations of origami structures along with their usefulness in diverse areas ranging from fashion to microscale robots. The lecture will be a live Teams event, you can access here.

Professor Itai Cohen is obsessed with matter in motion. At Cornell, his research has focused on investigating the behavior of microscopic and nanoscopic particles suspended in a fluid, exploring the mechanics of materials ranging from biological tissues to self-assembling magnetic systems, building origami inspired microscopic robots, discovering the mechanisms used by insects during flapping flight, and determining how crowds at heavy metal concerts coordinate their movement. Understanding the complicated behaviors of these systems remains a massive challenge in Physics.

This Christmas Lecture will be directly followed by Christmas Origami Workshop, please see seperate event invitation to book your place!